Apathy Wins
Where were YOU? We had an election and Nobody came! On Tuesday, November 8, Mayor Franklin won by a landslide in percentage terms, but only 7% of voters chose her! Not exactly a screaming mandate. Mayor Franklin received 28013 to her opponents 2038. 93% of the city said, “Who cares?”.
More people voted in the Dekalb County Library Bond referendum than voted in the Mayoral election, and still that was only 45,000. Even in East Point, where there was a much closer race, less than 2500 people will make the decision.
What must one conclude form this? Metro Atlantans don’t care about politics. It means we’re willing to leave our political decisions to the most zealous in our community. The rabid are making the choices. This means a more volatile political environment and that policy shifts will swing more dramatically. YOU can do something about this. If you’re registered to vote, you can make a difference by voting the run off on December 6th! Heck, you can even get a couple of hours off from work to do it!
November 15th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
I agree that turnout was low. However, where did you get your numbers from? According to http://www.fultonelections.com, 45,976 people voted in the Atlanta mayoral race.
Further, since Dekalb County has nearly 60% more registered voters than the City of Atlanta does, turnout in the Altanta elections, while still pathetic, was still higher than Dekalb County’s.
November 15th, 2005 at 8:29 pm
All politicians are corrupt pork chop eatin’ crooks incapable of handling a real job. That is why they are politicians. Therefore, voting is a waste of time, as whoever is elected will simply raid the public treasury and pass out sweetheart contracts to their friends.
November 15th, 2005 at 10:43 pm
Smoove, Nice to see you got up on the sunny side of the bed this morning.
November 16th, 2005 at 8:01 am
Hey! Don’t go pointing fingers! I voted the hell out of that election!
November 24th, 2005 at 10:44 am
I agree with, Smoove D. I wouldn’t say all politicans are corrupt, but there’s tooooooooo many bad apples. I certainly wouldn’t classify Jimmy Carter as corrupt. His high-standard of ethical principles was probably why he was only a one-term president. Look at the president we’re stuck with now.
Mayors of big cities don’t win re-election if they are not cozy with the business elite. Franklin is cozy with the business elite, but that’s the nature of the game.
I happen to personally like Mayor Shirley Franklin, but as a gay person I think Franklin has been a disappointment to the gay community in some respects. Yeah, she talks the talk, but sometimes doesn’t walk the walk.
Chad